The most LEGENDARY Postseason pushes in MLB history | Deep Dive

This MLB season has already produced a bunch of crazy comebacks in the division races. So, let’s take a look at some of the best playoff pushes in the sports history. In 2025, it’s been safe to assume that we shouldn’t assume anything. The Blue Jays trailed the Yankees by eight games on May 28th. They tied them on July 2nd and took the AL East lead the next day. The Brewers trailed the Cubs in the NL Central by 6 and a half games on June 17th. But by the end of July, they not only had the best record in their division, but in all of baseball. As late as June 12th, the Phillies trailed the Mets by five and a half games in the NL East. As late as July 3rd, the Padres’s were nine back of the Dodgers in the NL West. And as late as July 10th, the Mariners trailed the Astros by seven games in the AL West. None of those deficits prove built to last. This is how it is in baseball. It’s a sport where anything can happen and usually does. And in the game’s long history, nothing has stirred the soul quite like a late season surge that turns a team that looks like an also ran into an October entry. Now, we’d be remiss not to mention some of the greatest turnaround teams of all time. The boldest might be the 1914 Boston Braves, the so-called miracle Braves, who were in dead last on July 18th, but rallied to not only win the NL pennant, but also the World Series. or in more modern times, teams like the 2005 Astros, 2019 Nationals, and 2021 Braves looked dead and buried at or near the mid-year mark, but went on to win their league, and in the case of the Nats and Braves, win it all. But those teams had all done most of the heavy lifting before September even arrived. There are plenty other clubs that showed us just how meaningful the last month of the season can be. The Mets have been on both sides of the September surge. The 1969 Miracle Mets were 10 back of the Cubs in the NL East in mid August and had that chopped down to four and a half games by the time the calendar flipped to the final month of the regular season. When Ken Boswell drove in Cleon Jones with a winning run in the first game of a September 10th double header, the Mets grabbed a division lead that they would push to a whopping eight games by the end of the season. Given all that momentum, it’s little wonder those Mets needed just eight games total to run through the Braves and the NLCS and the Orioles in the World Series. Unfortunately, as the 2007 Mets can tell you, sometimes it’s the other team that believes just a little more. That year, the Phillies were two back of the Mets in the NL East entering September, but seven games back by the end of play on September 12th. The Mets were the defending division champs and had held the top spot since the middle of May. So, their dominance was not in doubt until the Phillies went to Sha Stadium to sweep a weekend series in the middle of the month. And with Ryan Howard and Chase Utley playing out of their minds in the home stretch, the Phillies forced a tie and then won the East on the season’s final day with the ageless Jamie Moyer turning in a terrific performance on the mound and Howard driving in three runs in a win over the Nats that sealed it for Philly. Alas, that 07 Philly’s team ran into a fellow September serger in the postseason. The 2007 Rockies were four and a half back of a wild card spot with 14 games to play, but they won 13 of those final 14 games, beat the Padres’s in a one-ame wild card tiebreaker at Kors in which Matt Holidayiday maybe slash probably did not touch home plate with the winning run and then swept the Phillies in the division series and the Diamondbacks in the NLCS. That’s how you rock people’s world. Now, it was the Red Sox who beat those Rockies in the World Series, but it was also the Red Sox who were on the wrong end of one of the most bonkers Septembers in baseball history way back in 1978. Boston had a 6 and 1/2 game edge on the rival Yankees going into the final month that season, but the so-called Bronx Zoo was still open for business with the Yanks winning 10 of their first 13 games in the final month to take a division lead that would actually grow to three and a half games. Then it was the Red Sox who clawed back in the season’s final two weeks to force a game 163 tiebreaker at Fenway Park. And that’s where the Red Sox took a two to nothing lead in the sixth before the Yankees took over thanks to an unlikely seventh inning blast by a light-hitting shortstop forever known in Boston as Bucky Bleeping Dent. Deep to left. Yostki will not get his home run. A three-run home run for Bucky Den. The Yankees now lead it by a score of three-2. Bucky Den has just hit his fifth home run of the year into the screen. And look at that Yankee bench led by Bob Lemon. Big Cliff Johnson out there. And a happy Bucky D. Yankees now lead 3-2. The 78 Yankees won it all. But the most fabled comeback that took place in a New York minute came in 1951 when the New York Giants trailed the Brooklyn Dodgers by six games in the National League standings as late as September 14th. The Giants caught the Dodgers with wins in 14 of their last 16 games. And the season came down to a best of three tiebreaker series. And in the rubber match, it was Bobby Thompson at the Polo Grounds forever etching his name into baseball lore with the shot heard round the world. Not the whistle. They’re the last match. I believe the giants from the palace. The giants from the pallet. The giants from the palace. The giants get into the very crazy. They’re going crazy. I don’t believe it. I don’t believe it. I do not believe it. Though they moved to San Francisco, the Giants must have summoned some of that spirit in 2010 when they trailed the Padres’s in the NL West by four games entering September, only to go on a late season dash to their first World Series crown since moving by the Bay. Speaking of moving, the 2009 Twins were closing down the Metrodome prior to their move to Target Field, but they still had one last party where they raised the roof. They won 16 of their final 20 games to erase a sevengame AL Central deficit against the Tigers and force a game 163 tiebreaker that resulted in 12 innings of dome drama capped by Alexi Casia driving in Carlos Gomez with a winning run in a wild walk-off. We go to the bottom of the 12th in a five game. Well, we’ve talked about it, John. An unlikely hero. Does Casia fit that mold? He certainly does. And a pitch bounced right side. Base hit. Here comes Gomez around third. The throw to the plate by Thomas. Not in time. Twins head to New York. The Twins have won the Central. Oh my. This one is going to be remembered for a long, long time. The best example of dome suite dome belongs to the 1995 Mariners who are actually in danger of leaving Seattle completely because the Kingdom was literally falling apart and the club was struggling to get local support to build a new ballpark. But after trailing the Angels in the AL West by 12 and a half games on August 20th and seven and a half games going into September, the refuse to lose M’s used prime performances from future Hall of Famers Randy Johnson, Edgar Martinez, and Ken Griffy Jr. to force a tiebreaker at home against the Halos. And in that game, the big unit was magnificent in a complete game. And Luis Soho came up with the bases loaded in the seventh and broke the game open. Now the broken bat. It’s fear. Flowers has scored. Tino Martinez has scored. And they all have scored. And here comes Soho. Jeez. That late season surge, which included a thrilling division series win over the Yankees, saved baseball in Seattle. Finally, let’s talk about the most shocking September and probably the best September night in MLB history. It happened in 2011. That year, the Tampa Bay Rays were an afterthought in the AL East going into the final month. It was assumed a single AL wild card spot would go to whichever of the Yankees or Red Sox didn’t win the East division, but the Red Sox of chicken and beer fame imploded down the stretch and the Rays took advantage with a 17-10 record in the final month. On the season’s final night, the Red Sox fell to the Orioles on Robert Andino’s game-winning two out RBI single. One-1 delivery. That is to right field. And now it’s trapped. The Orioles coming to the plate, rival. They did it. They did it. They did it. The Orioles have beat the Red Sox. Two runs. Bottom of the ninth inning. Mere minutes later, in the bottom of the 12th inning at Tropicana Field, the Rays overtook the Socks for the Wildard slot when Evan Longoria beat the Yankees with an epic September swing. Two two line shot down the left field line. That ball is gone and the Rays win it. A line drive home run by Evan Longoria and the Rays storm the field. It’s an 87 final on Loria’s second home run of the night. The Rays win it. And there’s some celebrating going on here. Now, while all that was happening, there was simultaneously reason to celebrate in St. Louis. The Cardinals had comeback capability built into their red blood. Back in 1964, they had benefited from what became known as the Philly flop by erasing a seven and a halfame deficit to the Phillies in the NL standings and clinching the pennant on the season’s final day before winning it all. In 2011, the Cards caused anguish in Atlanta, going 18-8 in the final month to overtake a Braves team that had led them in the NL wild card standings by eight and a half games at the start of the month. The Cards clincher came on the final night when Chris Carpenter easily dispatched the Astros in a complete game victory. And the Braves fell to the Phillies on Hunter Pence’s 13th inning flare. Pence breaks his bat, loops it over the head of Freeman. Ulas got it and the Phillies take the lead. Utley goes to third. It’s an RBI for Hunter Pence. It’s four to three Phillies. How about that? The 2011 Cardinals parlayed that September surge into an awesome October. A championship run highlighted by another crazy comeback in game six of the World Series when St. Louis was twice down to its final strike against the Rangers but managed to prevail. It ain’t over till it’s over, as a wise man once said. And as we’ve seen time and again in MLB, it ain’t over in September. Just last year, the Tigers were five back of an AL wild card slot going into September, but used a Sai Young finish from Terk Scooel and their special brand of pitching chaos to win 17 of their final 25 before bouncing the AL West champion Astros in the wildard series. Maybe someone else will give us a September to remember this year because after all, September is the October of the regular season, which is to say it can get a little goofy in a good way.

Looking back at some of the most epic September postseason pushes in MLB history.

Don’t forget to subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/mlb

Follow us elsewhere too:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MLB
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mlb/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mlb
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mlb

Check out MLB.com daily to watch the MLB.TV Free Game of the Day! https://mlb.com/freegame

Visit our site for all baseball news, stats and scores! https://www.mlb.com/

1 comment
Leave a Reply